coming to

Whoa, what a long long week it's been. Fever, coughing, a new tooth, snotty noses, nasty headaches and a fat lip (from a downhill crawling accident.) Poor Ari was so sick (though thankfully never worryingly so, just sad to see him so miserable,) and we got our first taste of how consuming it is to have a sick babe. He was sweet as could be, giving us lots of smiles through the fog of sickness. For awhile he was refusing to nurse and I was having flashes of hospital visits and IVs in the head and so ended up forcing him to take expressed breast milk from an eyedropper. I felt bad but after a few drops he seemed to get his thirst back and wanted to drink.

He's much better now thankfully. Just a rattly cough ("junky" is the official term it seems- who knew?) and a serious case of the grumps. Our house on the other hand still has some recovering to do. I am hoping to crawl out from the piles of laundry and dishes and scattered toys sometime before the next weekend rolls around.

There was not much time for crafting obviously, but I snuck in a few moments to save my sanity and to try to have something to offer for Perry's upcoming birthday. I have been working on these wrist warmers for awhile now. I was getting pretty cocky with those gnomey hats thinking I had the double pointed needle thing down with bulky weight yarn and big fat needles, but give me worsted weight and skinny minny needles and I am the world's slowest knitter. As you can see I've finished one (don't look at the mistakes please) and yup, that's the other one there, all two inches of it. And his birthday is the day after tomorrow. What are the chances of him having two warm wrists for his birthday? These are a couple of other felty things I made during the week of sick.

And it arrived! This wonderful patchwork scarf from Soulemama came in the mail and I looove it. Ari does too apparently. He was an obliging model, looking pretty perky considering his recent state. I, on the other hand, was not feeling perky nor up to any modeling. Good thing I have a cute baby to do things for me.
And I wanted to say yeah for the recent bunch of de-lurkers! It is so cool to see who is here and to peek in on your blogs too. I have yet to figure out how to get blogger to let me send you an e-mail response, so don't feel overlooked if I don't say thank you personally (and if you know how to do that, you could let me know!) And thanks for the comments on my fabric, I'm pretty excited to put it to use. I bought it through Z and S fabrics from the suggestion of stardustshoes. Most of these were on at a mighty fine sale price. I only feel slightly guilty for not buying local, since I am certain that none of these prints are available in the smokey inner chambers of my local fabric shop.

fabric virgin

I just got my first order of fabric in the mail. It was a birthday present to myself (as well as this beautiful yellow scarf I ordered from Soulemama's etsy shop. I almost never buy stuff for myself so this was a special splurge but I am starting to worry that the scarf has gotten lost in the mail. I am praying to the god of small precious handmade treasures that it still makes its way to me.) It has been a rough week with a family member in the hospital and my babe sick with a fever and cough. So my very first fabric splurge arriving is a ray of sunlight. These birds make me a little giddy. I can't get the picture to capture their sweetness, but they are sweet as can be. Now I just have to learn how to sew something.

singin' down the snow

We've had more snow here. Which is just what we needed, what with the pile the plow has made nearing our roof line. Ari enjoyed watching it fall from this perch on the window ledge (all the more fun for its nicknackiness and not usually being allowed up there.) He doesn't seem to mind the snow. Unlike his mama he doesn't have the memory of summer to make him antsy and he doesn't know what he's missing by not being able to run around outside. And really, all he wants to do is run. He can't yet, though he spends his days trying. He followed a toddler friend around the other day squealing in frustration that this other little person could do what he can't yet. It will come little boy, by the time the snow melts, you'll be ready to head out and run around and around and around our little house.

tree hugging

We have been making a good effort on weekends to get out into the woods. Now that we have weekends that is. Before Perry returned to full time work the days just sort of all blended together into a lovely unstructured jumble, now we have to make the most of our family time. I know this is what most everyone does- this full time working thing, but having mostly both ascribed to the work-as-little-as-possible-to-make-time-for-real-life philosophy, the 9-5 thing takes some getting used to. Plus teachers don't work 9-5. They work 8-3, send the kids home, work 3-5 at school marking and cleaning up messes, come home, have dinner and play with the baby and then work from 8-midnight prepping for the next day. So weekends are precious.

Ari loves them too, lots of Papa time and lots of time to hug the trees and visit the neighbourhood pets. I can hardly wait until the snow melts and getting outside is less of a chore. Ari will be in his glory crawling about on the grass (may even be walking by then! Yikes!) and I will be able to just wander outside with him without the dreaded snowsuit struggle. The snow was melty today though and we could all imagine spring will one day come and this made us all smiley.

fun with paper

What could be more fun than a roll of adding machine paper? This is us trying to beat the February funk- have a paper party!

And the argyle babylegs? A pair of women's knee socks with the feet cut off. Makes for easy pottying and diaper changes and they're pretty hip too. Which is, of course, top priority here in our little cabin in the woods.

catch up

I realized that there hasn't been much craftiness on here for awhile, though I seem to still have lots of projects of the go. It really does help to keep me sane to be making stuff and I feel the same sort of sense of loss when I finish a project as I do when a good book is done- "Oh no! What will I do now?" But being such a beginner I don't always feel like showing off what I've made- I am still learning from what other people make and am only starting to make the odd thing that feels like it came just from me. These pictures are all from tutorials or patterns I have found from other bloggers or on line, and though I sometimes feel unoriginal, it is such a fun way to learn from other creative folks. So much more interactive than my ancient needlework instruction manual.

The hat above is from this pattern. I've made three now and am starting to get the hang of knitting with 4 needles. This one is modeled by my lovely boy, but is for my friends newborn. I lined it with a cotton cap because the wool I used knitted up so much rougher than it seemed when I bought it. Is there some sort of roughness meter that knitters use? There isn't much of a yarn shop here, but on a recent trip to a nearby town I picked up some wool that feels soft as a baby's bum and certainly cannot knit up scratchy. More sweet little gnomey hats to come.

This bag is the first thing I've made that is just for me and I love it, imperfections and all. It is from tinyhappy's great tutorial and was really my first big sewing project on the scary sewing machine. It is made out on an old corduroy skirt that I thrifted but never wore, and the button is one Perry brought back from Australia before I'd even met him. It is serving as my small diaper bag so I don't have to lug around the suitcase sized backpack anymore. Yipee!

And finally a minimoopy. I have had the pattern sitting on my desk for ages but it was finding this sweet paper boat trim that inspired me to finally get to it. He is knock- kneed and gangly and might not stand up to a whole lot of baby play but he's become a favourite all the same. His body is made from a velour shirt my friend and I found in a market in Ladakh and which she sent me years later. The legs and arms were from another shirt that made me look more like a primary teacher than I wanted to look (I was one, but still, who wants to look like one?) and the ears are left over fabric from Ari's book. Reusemoopy. I loved Luckybeans' moopy when she posted about it back in June and mine just didn't look right until I gave him rosy cheeks like hers.

Ari thinks Moopy's antics are pretty funny as he has a habit of popping up unexpectedly, around corners or up from under highchair trays. Especially when Ari is grumpy. He's a bit of a clown our Moopy is.

TGIF

I took a bunch of photos this afternoon when Ari (finally) fell asleep, part of what I am thinking of as the exhausted-mama series. Ari has decided sleeping is best avoided and does so with all his baby might. He just loves his world so much it is hard to let go and accept he might miss out on things. Nights are hard too, he would rather snack and have several late-night parties, every hour or so. The lack of sleep is really catching up with me. I was pretty blase about sleep deprivation in the early days, siting my insomnia in university as a sort of training ground. Although I certainly did have some sleepless nights back then, they were usually exam-induced and therefore were followed by holidays where I could sleep in till noon and get caught up. No such luck these days. I wonder how we have survived as a species when mothers can spend years of their lives as total zombies. I wouldn't have a chance in outsmarting predators or fleeing great danger. I can hardly get myself dressed and figure out what to make for dinner.

This is Perry's first week back to work and I am sure glad the weekend is here. We've been spoiled having him home so much, but we sure miss him, and he misses Ari lots being gone all day long. We've been dreaming of the ideal work situation for both of us; him working afternoons and me teaching a few mornings a week. It's a nice dream but for now we'll each accept our full time positions as art teacher and mama and I'll soak up those Saturday morning sleep-in opportunities.

prayer. beads.

Dear Ari,
Today is your nine month birthday. This seems such a short time and yet I can't believe that this much time has passed already. I realize how fast this growing up thing really is going to happen. As I was writing those words you called out in your sleep and I picked you up and rocked you and nursed you and you fell back asleep in my arms. This time feels so precious.

At nine moths you are so busy with things. Learning constantly and continually on the move. These are some things you do these days:














You love to pull yourself up to the tea shelf (gurgling and chattering all the way,) and to dump all the boxes onto the floor. You crawl quite quickly now, but with one leg only half bent - we call it the pirate crawl- that wooden leg. You squeal and crawl away laughing when we "chase" you to give you kisses, sometimes just rolling onto your back letting us get your belly and under your chin. You love to snuggle and when you cozy up I often say "cozycozycozy" or "sooo nice" and you make the sweetest sound, a contented little "ohhh."

These days you will explore the house out of my view but come back when I call "where's my baby?" crawling around the corner looking relieved and happy to see me. You find the tiniest things on the ground and put them promptly into your mouth. You love using your finger and thumb to pick things up lately which makes for more fun in the food eating department, but no matter how much I sweep you manage to find tiny pieces of bark that have gotten in from the woodbox and bits of fluff and teeny fabric scraps.














You are enjoying food more, although you still nurse lots and lots (and lots...) you have just discovered rice puffs and this has extended the dinner hour for your Papa and I as you are happy to play with and eat these little snacks, giving each one your full attention. Tonight you had steamed carrot bits and rice pasta. Your favorites are smushed blueberries and peas. Most new foods make you squinch up your face and shiver. You will then often ask for more.













Although you are noticing and protesting more and more when I leave the room, you still have not "made strange." You will put your arms out to anyone with a fancy necklace or a pair of glasses. You'll let pretty much anyone cart you around so long as it is not near bedtime.

But you love your Papa best of all (mama is almost still a part of you and doesn't count yet in this regard.) You make this cute little shout when you want his attention or if there is something interesting you think he should see. It is like "hey Papa, you have got to check this out!" You love to go on walks with him and read books and to dance. And he can get you to eat when I can't. But you wont let anyone else but me put you to sleep. Someday. I'll happily hoard the cuddles so long as they are needed.